Why she sat by herself
For several weeks after meeting her, I would occasionally see her in the dining hall. I would have brief one- to two-minute exchanges with her on my way out in order to avoid appearing aggressive. She, always alone, would smile and laugh at my jokes and inanity.
One Sunday in the winter quarter of 2007, I ate with a large group of Foster House guys; about 20 of us occupied two tables along the west wall. I, at the south table and facing south, saw her brisk past me. Resolving to say hello, I finished my meal and cleared my tray. I then walked back and saw that she had taken the table immediately north of the Foster House tables and was facing north. As I approached, I also saw that there was a tray across from her and wondered with anticipation what kind of friend she was finally eating with.
I saw down next to the tray and said Hi! How are you?
As she replied, I became distracted by a flurry of whispering at the table behind her, and as she finished speaking I saw a dozen sets of Foster House eyes turn and stare at the two of us. The guys then turned back to their table, grinning stupidly. My first thought was That's right, stare! I know this girl!
The reality of the situation became apparent moments later, as the owner of the tray returned.
He was musclebound, with tattoos and piercings. He sat down in front of the tray and queried me, Hi. How do you know [my girlfriend].
She giggled and announced This is my boyfriend!
I fumbled my way through a brief introduction, ended my conversation with her, and headed out.
Back at Foster House, the guys laughed that they had seen him with her, and that they couldn't wait for him to return to the table. I just wanted to turn my chair around to face the table and watch the whole thing!
crowed my CA.
At dinner that evening, I saw her again by herself and sat down across from her.You know how, in the movies, there's the guy who likes some girl, and he keeps hanging around her, but she's not interested, but he keeps pursuing her, and then one fateful evening he's talking with her and her boyfriend walks up, there's an awkward introduction, the boyfriend casually dismisses the guy, and the boyfriend and the girl head off, leaving the guy behind to mope? If this were that situation, I would know how to deal with it. I have a lot of experience with those situations, because I've watched lots of movies. This isn't that situation, though. I'm not romantically interested in you.
She replied, I know. If you were, you would have asked for my phone number by now. But you haven't. It's refreshing.
Great. But I still feel really embarrassed about lunch today. To tell you the truth, I've been really curious why you always sit by yourself, but I figured it would be too bizarre to just come right out and ask right after meeting you.
She replied, I live in Kemper, so nobody I live with is on the meal plan. Plus, most of my friends live off-campus or go to school in Chicago.
Well. That was easy enough.
9 comments:
Aw, I was expecting a showdown with the boyfriend.
...sorry to disappoint you, a year on?
Umm... I do not understand the question? Or is it a reference that I didn't catch?
It was still a good story though, thanks for posting part two.
I would give that story about a six out of ten — better than homoerotic Harry Potter fan-fiction, but decidedly less artful than, oh say, Atlas Shrugged. It lacks something in believability, especially the irrational appeal to archetype in the character of the big, musclebound boyfriend. I also question whether it was wise to present this piece using first-person narrative; there seems no readily apparent reason to do so.
On the other hand, the narrator has that hilarious, Napoleon Dynamite-esque nature, to which no real person could possibly relate and at which everyone can laugh. I like how his comedic pathos is accentuated when he is mocked by the character called “CA”, clearly indicated as the omniscient godlike character by his all-capitalised name. If only Blogger supported small caps, we could have a simultaneous grammar-gasm.
Overall, I would say that this work shows potential, and encourage you by saying that the best way to hone your skill is to keep writing.
@Herohtar - I don't really want to travel back in time and change history in order to fight the boyfriend so that I can retell the story to your liking. Plus, it would be my current self, not my past self, that would receive the throwdown. And I have an aversion to anachronistic beatings.
@K. Dubs - Archetypes allow me to connect with my readers on their level. It's apparent that lengthy descriptions will fall on blind eyes (you like how I appropriated a common phrase and updated it for the current medium?) because
FACT: People don't read stuff.
Archetypes are the sound bites of character development.
Ahhh, I get it.
...you can time travel??
I was actually hoping to announce it at E3 this year, in combination with an awesome game idea I have called "Time Warriors". Basically, you travel back in time and participate in all of the greatest battles in history, thus artificially boosting each side's numbers. You can even play against yourself on opposing sides of the battlefield by traveling back in time multiple times!
Of course, E3 was restructured and made invite-only, so I'm going to have to make the announcement at E3 2005...several times.
Sweet! Too bad I wasn't there to see your presentation.
By the way, did you happen to attend the MIT Time Traveler Convention? (http://web.mit.edu/adorai/timetraveler/) Or perhaps you are planning on attending it in the future. (or should I say, past?)
I actually did attend, but I didn't identify myself as a time traveler. It would have troubled the attendees to discover that in the future, time travel will be used for gaming and entertainment.
On the plus side, just as rock 'n' roll supplanted comics, and video games, rock 'n' roll, people will turn to time travel as a scapegoat for what's wrong with this world. As if sending people back in time to fight in historic battles begets violence!
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